I've got a 5x8 Carry-On utility trailer like this one: http://www.carry-ontrailer.com/products/show/5X8G/
They sell them at Tractor Supply, Lowes, etc. for $550-700 depending if it's on sale. Put down 1/2 plywood over the mesh floor and you're good to go.

It's only 350 lbs., and has a fold down rear gate, loading doesn't get any easier than that. Easy to tow with any vehicle, including my Mazda 3 hatch.

Carry-On rates it as a 1650 lb. payload, more than enough for 2 heavy or 3 light bikes.

If you can live without a folding trailer these work great for the price, and can haul anything other than bikes too.

I am pretty sure that I have the same trailer. The grating is too light for a road bike. Not terrible for dirtbikes, but I need it stronger for a heavier road bike.

I have to go to Mpls for a Doctor's appt Tuesday, should be able to find some of that decking somewhere in the cities.

Thanks for the pics Steve.

Awesome.

Click to expand...

Same reason I changed mine. The expanded metal crap was failing. What I used is a 13" interlocking bleacher planking. Sort of like tongue and groove flooring. Tried to find a detail at the website of the company that installed the bleachers at the stadium I just finished, but there was not one on their site.

I removed all the rust from mine, and then rattle canned bed liner on all the steel parts. Then added the box, and the chocks, and the tailgate. Scope creep almost got out of control.

Thanks for info on chocks. Im probably going to go w/ 36" apart on my crappy HF trailer. I have a 2x6 PT deck so Im not worried there. It hauls two trail 90's fine or one KLR so it should be able to haul two KLR's w/o any problems once a retrofit work is done......

Standard 5x8 mesh bottom with some added 2x12's and paint/stain.
Put some ramp attachment points across the back and just use
the rear gate for my ramp, that way i always have a ramp with me
and if someone steals it, it can be replaced for 10 bucks. The ramp (top)
lays flush and locks to trailer when in position so no humps to get
over or ramp movement. Double sided tractor taillights throw
a lot of light forward to keep the trailer lit and i never have to
wonder if the lights are working when goin down the road.
Moved the axle back 9" to counter the weight of the wood
and now it pulls straight as an arrow(loaded or unloaded).
275/60/15's on 10" american racing rims
With all the wood its got some extra weight, but solid as hell.
Just need to come up with some fenders, need 12" wide and
trailer fenders are only sold up to 10" wide.

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Used to borrow this 5x8 Aluma (they're really 4'6" x 8') from a friend up the road but he sold it and I bought a Featherlite thru the FM here (Thanks, flan8tive!) and, the timing being serendipitous, did Daytona Half-a-Bike-Week, got my KTM cap signed by Willie G, and had lunch with more ADVRiders at the Outback Crab Shack inland from St. Aug. The F'lite is built a bit heavier and has larger tires than the Aluma but the weight difference is insignificant. Unloaded, the tongue is a one-finger lift and it can be pulled around the yard easily, one-handed.

The only problem with little flatbed trailers, IMO, is that, when hauling more than one bike, the outboard tie-down leads go almost straight down - not good! - so I've had a couple of 42" lengths of 2x2 box-section steel cut to bolt on athwartships, underneath the deck, at the leading edge of the bed, with eye-bolts to mount at the outboard ends to provide a good tie-down angle. (42" takes 'em out to the width of the fenders.) I also have Pingel chocks to mount (Thanks, krautbikeman!), a 6"-er on C/L, another 6"-er to the right, and a 3"-er to the left. If hauling a skinny-tire bike in a 6" chock, I use lengths of 1x3 oak to keep the front tire centered in the chock; a couple of bungee cords would do as well.

Hint: A Kryptonite cable, looped around the trailer tongue and padlocked (visible in the pic), makes a great attachment point for the inboard tie-down strap hooks when hauling two bikes.

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One of my favorite sites for seeing the possibilities is the Expedition Portal site. Here's their section on trailers. The more I look into my trailer project the more I think I might end up building an independent suspension for it with airbags and shocks. The reason is that as I plan out what I want the trailer to do I see the weight can really change from a day trip solo to a four day hell run deep into the Dez with a buddy or two. Leaf springs really fail at that range of weight. Plus the axle is the one thing holding back the travel offroad behind the 4Runner. Ideally, the new trailer will have the same ground clearance as the 4Runner. And as one very wise poster pointed out, ideally the trailer can hold stuff securely without beating it to death via no damping on the suspension.

So I might do the trailer in two stages. I've found alot of interesting information about doing a independent setup and will post soon as I make sense of all of it.